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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1983)
An outsider’s view of T exas-Oklahoma See page 12 Murray leads A&M past Cougars, 30-7 See page 11 The Batta on Serving the University community Vol 78 No. 28 USPS 045360 14 pages College Station, Texas Monday, October 10, 1983 ',e Ad marquis considered e f 1 M eagan’s position still vulnerable United Press International WASHINGTON — In 1980, Ronald Reagan wove together a for midable coalition of support behind his promises of less intrusive govern ment, lower taxes, economic prosper ity and U.S. strength in world affairs. In 1984, White House strategists concede, holding that coalition together will not be as easy. Once his re-election plans are announced, Reagan will have all the powers of incumbency at hand. But instead of campaigning as an outsider against an unpopular president, he would be on the defensive against ^Democratic attacks on his record of t the past 33 months. On the domestic front, Reagan — the candidate who promised balanced budgets and better times — has pres ided over the worst unemployment in 40 years, a severe recession and the largest federal budget deficits in his tory. Also, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union are at a new low, war rages in Central Amer ica, Africa and the Middle East and more voters than ever distrust Reagan’s foreign policy. In 1980, President Carter boasted inside Around town 8 Classified. 10 Local 3 National 8 Opinions 2 Sports State What’s up 3 forecast Mostly cloudy and warm — highs in upper 80s. he kept the United States out of war. Reagan has dispatched troops to three world trouble spots, including Lebanon, where four Marines have died as a result combat-related wounds. White House polls confirm voter anxiety. Reagan’s advisers hope the problem is temporary. “Just because some foreign policy moves are not popular doesn’t mean a president can walk away from them,” said one. On Reagan’s political scorecard: —Women. The “gender gap” emerged early and has grown in size and significance. In 1980, Reagan was supported by 57 percent of the men and 47 percent of the women who voted. —Hispanics. Reagan polled about 30 percent of the Hispanic vote in 1980 and has used support from Cuban ex iles, prosperous Hispanic business ex ecutives and Mexican-American veterans as a sign of minority backing. His advisers believe he would need 30 to 40 percent of the Hispanic vote to carry the key states of Florida, Texas and California. —Blue-collar workers. Reagan re ceived 41 percent of the union vote in Train hits student A Texas A&M freshman is in critic al condition and two local men are dead after colliding with trains in three separate accidents Friday. Frederick Reyes, 18, has been in intensive care at St. Joseph Hospital since he was admitted at about 10:15 p.m. Friday. Reyes was injured when his pickup collided with a Southern Pacific train at a railroad crossing at F&B and Wellborn roads in College Station, police said. Reyes’ truck turned over about four times when it was hit and was knocked about 50 feet, police said. Other truck-train accidents claimed the lives of two Brazos Valley men Friday. Don Lenz, 26, of Bryan, was killed Friday morning when the pickup he was driving struck a Sante Fe train at an FM 50 crossing. Herbert F. Sauer, 65, of New Baden, was killed when his pickup collided with a Southern Pacific train at a crossing in Calvert. Ironically, Gov. Mark White has declared this week Texas Grade Cros sing Safety Week, a police spokesman said. 1980. Labor leaders are doing all they can to prevent another massive Re publican defection in 1984. —Blacks. The White House has writ ten off the black vote, resigned to accept the rejection of Reagan’s domestic policies by a vast majority of the black community. by Steve Thomas Battalion Staff Imagine a 20-foot square of blink ing words and graphics looming above G. Rollie White Coliseum, with the words “Coke Adds Life” flashing red and white above the rolling adver tisements. That could be the scenario of an advertising marquis Texas A&M is considering adding to its landscape for the benefit of on-campus organi zations. John J. Koldus, vice president for student services, said the idea for such a sign, which has been in debate for over five years, came up again be cause Southeast Scoring Systems, Inc. in New Mexico offered to donate the sign to the University, under the con dition that outside advertising be used. The marquis would replace the banners in the Memorial Student Center, giving advertisers a more effective method of reaching the mas ses of Texas A&M students, James R. Reynolds, director of the MSC, says. But Koldus said the Master Plan ning Committee doesn’t want outside advertising to be so blatant on campus. “There’s a strong divergence of opinion,” Koldus said. He brought the signboard idea to the attention of his department heads last week. With outside advertising, Koldus said the sign would cost the University nothing; without, the cost would run between $35,000 and $60,000. The organizations who advertise on campus want the sign whether it has outside advertising or not, Koldus said, whereas the academic commun ity feels it would be aesthetically damaging. Even though the debate over the sign has been going on for so long, Koldus said it should again be put on the back burner. “We’d look into it a heck of a lot more if we thought it was a possibility and it had merit,” he said, “but I’ve just kind of put it aside for now.” Reynolds said the controversy dates back to 1978. The students of the MSC Council conducted a survey that concluded that organizations at Texas A&M weren’t getting their messages across to the mass Aggie au dience. Texas A&M has the same amount of bulletin board, exhibit and banner space as it did when enrollment was only 18,000, Reynolds said. The organizations who advertise on campus want the sign whether it has outside advertising or not whereas the academic community feels it would be aesthetically damaging. And banners aren’t the answer either. They’ve been banned by the University three times in the past five and a half years, he said. The surveyors decided a large programmable marquis would meet the need, he said. Since then three studies have been done by outside companies to determine the size, placement and other specifications for such a marquis. But still, no signboard. Reynolds, however, is certain of one thing: Texas A&M needs this sign whether or not it has to commercialize to get it. Financial aid policies changing New director says financial aid office is im proving by Bonnie Langford Battalion Staff Charles Troup says he doesn’t want to drop out of school, but he doesn’t have any income — and the student loan he had planned on still hasn’t arrived. Troup is just one of the 12,000 students at Texas A&M who apply for financial aid. His problem is not unique; he filed for his loan later than the suggested date and because of a backlog of applications, the Stu dent Financial Aid Office has not had time to process his papers. Troup has not been forgotten, though. Taft Benson, director of Student Financial Aid since Aug. 15, says that if a student needs money im mediately to stay in school, the office will rush the application through. This is an exception to the rules, he says. “We don’t want students to drop out of school,” Benson says. The office also will help students obtain short-term loans for up to $750 or “little loans” for up to #50, he says. Because of the backlog, Benson says, the staff is processing the appli cations turned in on time. The large amourit of unprocessed forms has caused so many problems in the office, he says, that he plans to hire temporaries or move people within the office to end the situation. However, hiring help is only a temporary solution, Benson says. His long range plans include streamlining the system so all forms are out of the office within 10 days. A suggestion box for stu dents will be added this week so students can comment on what they like or dislike about the Student Financial Aid Office. The idea is only part of the plan for improving the Student Financial Aid Office, he says. “I want the Financial Aid Office to provide friendly, efficient ser vices,” Benson says. “Hopefully, we will become more service oriented.” Other proposals for improve ment include the addition of more financial aid counselors, he says. A student should be able to sit down with the counselor and work through any problems, he says. The student also should be able to come back to the same counselor about further problems, he says. The office also would like to re ceive more feedback from students, Benson says. A suggestion box for students will be added this week, he says, so students can comment on what they like or dislike about the office. Benson met with student leaders last week to discuss students’ needs. He plans to organize a student advis ory group, he says. “It’s important to get communi cation lines open,” Benson says, “so students can voice their complaints to us.” Another future change is the set ting of target dates for getting forms processed and out, Benson says. Target dates will be built around heavy application times, he says, which occur shortly before each semester. If the load gets too large during these times, he says, the office will employ additional staff to help. To prevent a long waiting period for student funds, Benson says, stu dents should have Texas Guaran teed Student Loan applications in by April 15, and National Direct Stu dent Loan applications in 90 days before the money is needed, since these two loans are applied for most often. Money received by students at the office is paid back to the loaning institutions, Benson says. Texas A&M has a 2 percent default rate, he says, which is the lowest in the state. A loan is default when it is not paid back by the student. Students receiving loans are not the only ones having to wait for money, though. Benson says scho larships for students are sometimes delayed, but that this is not the financial aid office’s fault. “You can’t tell a sponsor to get the money in by a deadline,” he says. “But you don’t want to keep the stu dent from school, either.” Benson says both sides should be kept happy. To help solve the prob lem, Benson has proposed estab lishing a temporary fund which would allow a student to receive a scholarship before the money from the donor arrives. Now students can borrow more through small loans by Lauri Reese Battalion Reporter The maximum amount of “little loans” — short-term loans available to full-time students — has been raised from $30 to $50, which re flects an increase in the cost of living, Taft Benson, director of student financial aid, says. Little loans have been offered through the Student Financial Aid e pa dth; Students with a Texas A&M iden tification card and a paid fee slip have 30 days to repay the loan and a 10-day grace period before they must pay a $5 delinquent fee. If they are late, they lose their little loan privileges for one year, beginning the day the loan is paid off. Their registration for the next semester also is blocked until the money is paid. Loan coordinator Anedith Hess said only about 2.5 percent of the loans are late. More than 450 students have taken advantage of the loans since Sept. 13 when the financial aid office began offering them for the year, she said. To receive one of the loans, stu dents must fill out a card at the Pavi lion. The money is given to them at that time. Students may take out the loans as often as they need, Hess said, as long as they pay the money back on time. Some students fill out another card at the same time that they pay back a loan, she said. There is a 25 cent service charge on the loans. Money for the loans is obtained from the Association of Former Stu dents for use by the financial aic office.